KV Racing Technology announced today that American Racing Custom Wheels will join the team for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season.

American Racing has a long and respected history with roots in aftermarket performance wheels dating back to the golden era of hot rodding in the mid 1950’s. The American Racing brand is an essential part of American automotive culture. American Racing Custom Wheels will be a sponsor of E. J. Viso’s No. 8 CITGO | PDVSA – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone entry and will be represented on the hat and helmet of KVRT teammate Tony Kanaan.

Bristol Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith is considering about $1 million worth of changes to return his Tennessee track to the way it was before a 2007 reconfiguration.

"We are going to take a very hard look at it this week," Smith told The Associated Press on Monday. "We have everything in our computers that shows us what the track used to be and what it is now, and we started working on that last night. I'll have an answer for you next week on if we'll alter the track."

But Smith insisted it was the rain, not fan apathy over the current style of racing at Bristol, that contributed to Sunday's poor crowd.

Poor Dallara build quality bites IndyCar againUPDATE #3 To set the record straight, The issues Dallara is having is not at all the same as the issue Champ Car had with their new car. The Champ Car cell was manufactured by ATL not Premier and the issue they had was with the buckeye area not sealing. Elan tried to make their own inlet out of a plastic material and when it did not work Champ Car went with the Aluminum Dan Jones system. It had nothing to do with the cell itself. And the Champ Car ran on Methanol not Ethanol.

03/19/12 The problem with the fuel cell is the material selection and the supplier according to more information we received. Champ Car struggled with this as the Ethanol composition is new to all and required a very specific material. The material is lightweight and looks like Kevlar.

The same problem happened to Champ Car, who choose this same supplier and it was a complete mess, they did not fit, leaked and would not fill.

Had they gone to Dan Jones for design instead of doing it on the cheap it would have fixed the issue, that is what Champ Car finally did.

De Phillippi crushes track record in first day of Barber testWith the 2012 season-opener at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg just six days away, the teams and drivers of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear are engaged in a bit of 'Spring Training' today and tomorrow at Barber Motorsports Park.

And they're keeping the top of the time sheets pretty much 'all in the family.' With three sessions now in the books, Star Mazda veteran Connor De Phillippi, driving the #2 Modspace Racing Mazda this year for Juncos Racing, not only set the quick time of the day on the 20th lap of Session 1 - 1:20.607 (102.721 mph) - but he also broke, by a lot, the Star Mazda track record at Barber -- 1:21.166 (102.013 mph) -- set last year in qualifying for Round 2 of the 2011 season by eventual champion Tristan Vautier. De Phillippi, who finished 2nd in the Star Mazda Championship battle last year, was the 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series champion and moved up to Star Mazda in 2010 with scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brian Vickers, who’s piloting the No. 55 Toyota for MWR Racing in place of Mark Martin at selected races this season, showcased his talents at Bristol Motor Speedway with an improbable fifth-place finish.

But yesterday’s feel-good story may, for Vickers, represent a light at the end of the tunnel as well. The past couple of seasons have been filled with turmoil and frustration for the 28-year-old hot shoe, including the shuttering of Red Bull Racing and a contentious back-and-forth with driver Matt Kenseth at Martinsville (Va.) last year.

He spoke with NASCAR Race Hub host Steve Byrnes, and here are highlights from that interview:

BHA to field car for American Castaneda at St. PeteBryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian is excited to announce that 22-year-old Troy Castaneda will drive the #28 entry in Firestone Indy Lights for the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg.

"I'm very much looking forward to getting back into racing action," Castaneda said. "It's been a long off-season and I'm extremely excited for this opportunity. I want to thank Bryan (Herta) and Steve (Newey), the sponsors and everyone else involved in making this possible. I can't wait to get out there and show what we can do."

Munoz joins Andretti AutosportA third Colombian driver will be on the Firestone Indy Lights in 2012.

Andretti Autosport announced it has signed Carlos Munoz and will pair 20-year-old Colombian with AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport's Sebastian Saavedra.

"We compete in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder to help develop young and talented people, and Carlos is the latest member of this development team," said Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti. "Having two entries in Firestone Indy Lights allows us to be a stronger contender for the championship and we are looking forward to having Carlos join our effort."

"I chose to race here because of the Mazda Road to Indy program," the 21-year-old Brazilian said. "I think it's a great program for any driver who wants to be an (IZOD) IndyCar (Series) driver. That's why I chose to be here."

INDYCAR announces new leadership structure for Firestone Indy LightsINDYCAR announced a leadership restructuring of Firestone Indy Lights, the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder that serves as an essential step for drivers and teams seeking to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Tony George Jr., who has served as the series' manager of business development, will take over as director of Firestone Indy Lights from Roger Bailey, who retired after more than 25 years in a leadership role with Indy Lights.

Jason Penix, INDYCAR's manager of grassroots marketing since 2010, will expand his duties as director of grassroots initiatives.

Bank cuts back sponsorship at NASCAR tracksLongtime NASCAR sponsor Bank of America Corp. has cut back on some of its track sponsorships. The Charlotte bank decided last year not to renew agreements with nine speedways around the country – including four venues owned by Concord-based Speedway Motorsports Inc. - after the contracts expired in late 2011.

The bank has severed ties with SMI's Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway near San Francisco and Atlanta Motor Speedway. It also ended all five of its International Speedway Corp. track sponsorships.

Bank of America continues to sponsor Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Bank of America 500 race, a title sponsorship it has held since 2006. Bank spokesman Nicole Nastacie said it agreed last year to a multiyear extension with SMI.

"Motorsports remains an important part of our sponsorship marketing program and has deep roots in Charlotte," she said. "That said, we continuously evaluate our sponsorship portfolio to ensure we have the right assets to achieve our business objectives.

While on the surface Australia was not good for Ferrari, Stefano Domenicali says it at least gave them the chance to understand the issues with their F2012.

Ferrari faltered in Saturday's first qualifying of the season as, pushing too hard, Fernando Alonso beached his car in the gravel while Felipe Massa sorely lacked pace. The duo qualified P12 and P16 respectively.

Sunday's 58-lap grand prix, though, was better for the Italian stable with Alonso finishing in fifth place. A crash late in the grand prix put Massa into retirement.

And although ten points is not a great start to the season for a team wanting to fight for the titles, Domenicali says Ferrari at least have a better understanding of where their problems lie.

Andretti firm to pay $25,000 to lease Milwaukee MileA company led by Indy race car owner Michael Andretti will pay $25,000 to lease the Milwaukee Mile Milwaukee Mile Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company for an IndyCar race in June.

Andretti Sports Marketing Wisconsin, led by IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti, announced several weeks ago that it would promote the race and festival at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis June 15-16. The event will be headlined Saturday afternoon by an internationally televised IZOD IndyCar race and also will include many other events at the Wisconsin State Fair Grounds, including a post-race concert.

According to documents released to The Business Journal in response to an open records request, Andretti Sports Marketing must pay Wisconsin State Fair Park, which owns the race track, $12,500 by April 1 and $12,500 by June 13.

F1 teams want spending restrictionsFormula One teams have written to the sport's governing body asking for spending restrictions to cap spiraling costs.

Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso were reportedly the only teams not to sign the letter.

"The teams asked the FIA to continue the process of looking at cost control," Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said. "It's something which the FIA are very keen to do as well, so it was a letter of support to the FIA to say that we want to continue the process of reducing costs and look at fair ways of introducing the regulations or procedures to keep the costs under control and further reduce the costs."

Weekly Dale Jr. excuse: Dale Jr. takes responsibility for wreck with Jeff GordonDale Earnhardt Jr. talks about his incident with teammate #24-Jeff Gordon at Bristol Motor Speedway, from a Chevy Racing post race transcript in part:Q: YOU SAID ON YOUR RADIO THAT YOU FELT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENED WITH JEFF GORDON BLOWING A TIRE. HE SAID IT WAS ONE OF THOSE RACING THINGS:Earnhardt Jr.: "I absolutely feel responsible. I got into his door a little bit. We were racing and having a good time, to be honest with you. I put the pipes up against the left rear tire of his car, and knocked the side wall out of it. I hate...I feel bad about that. I'm going to have to do some damage control this week. I know Jeff understands what was going on out there, but his boys work real hard on their car, and they had a good run going. They had a potential win, or good finish going too; and they deserve it. I hate what happened to Jeff (Gordon). We were racing really hard. It was fun. If there is a track where you can lean on each other a little bit then this ought to be the place. We just barely rubbed down the back straight-a-way."

NASCAR says Kenseth legally beat Keselowski to line on Bristol restartGenerally, there are two cardinal rules when it comes to NASCAR's double-file restarts: don't change lanes before you cross the start/finish line and if you're in second, don't beat the leader to the start/finish line. With 154 laps to go in Sunday's Food City 500, #17-Matt Kenseth restarted second. The leader, #2-Brad Keselowski, was next to him on the inside line. It was the first time the leader had taken the inside line all day. Kenseth clearly beat Keselowski to the start/finish line as you can see in the video above, and the two entered turn one side-by-side before Kenseth prevailed and cleared Keselowski a few laps later. Kenseth never conceded the position to Keselowski, nor was he black-flagged by NASCAR. Why? Because according to NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp, race officials deemed that Keselowski hadn't mashed the gas in the designated restart zone before the start/finish line, allowing the second-place driver -- Kenseth -- the right of way to accelerate on his own. Yahoo Sports

The first appearance in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East action proved to be more than productive as Nelson Piquet Jr. won the inaugural Widow Wax 125 presented by SealWrap Repair Tape from the pole Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Piquet held off a hard-charging Ryan Blaney for the victory in the season-opener for the series. Ryan Gifford finished third.

This was the first NASCAR victory for Piquet, a regular in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and first win for a Brazilian in K&N Pro Series East history.

Video: Lexus & Sports Illustrated: "Tori 500″Girls and cars go together very well and this video by Lexus puts an interesting twist on this age old law. In "Tori 500″ they take hot Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Tori Praver and make a race track from her silhouette. See the video exclusively on our iPad and iPhone app with Scott Pruett, Greg Tracy (Stunt driver) and Tori Praver (Model).

2011 a record year for PorscheDr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, concluded the 2011 financial year with a new record in sales, revenue and operating profit. The sports car manufacturer is continuing its growth trajectory with the youngest and most efficient model range of all time and is focusing systematically on the goals set under “Strategy 2018”.

In sales terms, Porsche grew by 21 per cent to 116,978 units worldwide in the past fiscal year. Revenue was 10.9 billion euro, or an increase of 18 per cent compared with the same period the year before, the calendar year 2010. Operating profit reached 2.05 billion euro on the back of 1.67 billion euro in 2010. That represents an increase of 22 per cent compared with the previous year’s performance and an operating return on sales of 18.7 per cent. Compared with the same period last year, the sports car manufacturer succeeded in boosting cash flow by 17 per cent to 2.4 billion euro.

Pastrana forced to cut scheduleTravis Pastrana had planned to run NASCAR’s entire K&N Series schedule this year, but said Saturday that won’t happen because of conflicts in the Global Rallycross events. He now will miss three K&N races.

“That was very disappointing, but at the same time I think we’ll be able to, hopefully, use those races because they’re at the NASCAR tracks,” said Pastrana, who made his NASCAR debut at Bristol in the K&N East Series opener. “Hopefully, you’ll be able to acquire more sponsorship, more fans and, hopefully, build both programs as much as we can.”

It was announced last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that Speedway Motorsports Inc. had formed a relationship with Global Rallycross. The partnership will bring Rallycross events to NASCAR Sprint Cup and IZOD IndyCar race weekends at select venues throughout the 2012 season. The event at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled for Coca-Cola 600 weekend.

Changes made in BMS pit road timing-linesNASCAR has added two pit road timing lines on each side of the track at Bristol to lessen the advantage of certain pit stalls. #2-Brad Keselowski raised eyebrows during his victory at the .533-mile track last August by accelerating rapidly from his pit stall and slowing suddenly as he approached the next time line. Since pit road speed is measured across areas separated by the timing lines, certain stalls located just beyond timing lines have been particularly advantageous.

Consequently, a driver can go as fast as possible in the segment in which his or her pit stop occurs without fear of a speeding penalty, effectively circumventing for a short burst Bristol's 30 mph pit-road speed limit. The timing lines added to the frontstretch and backstretch pits effectively cut the timing segments from the length of 11 pit stalls to six. NASCAR Wire Services

Elliott Sadler wasn't sure about the decisive call in Saturday's Ford EcoBoost 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway -- until crew chief Luke Lambert gave him a history lesson.

Lambert's astute call to keep Sadler on the racetrack under the final caution gave Elliott Sadler the boost he needed to win his second Nationwide Series race of the season, two weeks after he broke a 14-year drought in the series at Phoenix.

The Nationwide points leader drove away from Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski after a restart on Lap 273 of 300 and beat Kahne to the finish line by 1.159 seconds. The victory was Sadler's second at Bristol, the seventh of his career, and it came at the .533-mile track that gave him the first of his three Sprint Cup victories in 2001.

Robby Gordon failed to make the 500 field after his engine failed to fire for practice. That would normally not be a major story here; however the situation surrounding Gordon's problems made it one. "Robby was out there on the line ready for practice, and then the car just wouldn't fire," crewman Randy Rodriguez said. "Four McLaren engineers came running over there to help, and they spent 1-1/2 hours with it, but couldn't figure it out. So we have to go home. No practice, you can't qualify." NASCAR officials, asked about the situation, referred reporters to McLaren engineers, who could not be found. Dodge execs, likewise, could not be found for comment. Gordon, one of only three NASCAR drivers this year running Dodges (along with Penske men #22-AJ Allmendinger and #2-Brad Keselowski), says he has called Dodge boss Ralph Gilles since Penske announced two weeks ago that he would be moving to Ford.

But Gordon says Gilles has not yet returned his inquiries. Gordon had engine problems at Daytona and tried to get an engine from Penske, the only other team owner building Dodge engines. But Gordon said Penske's price (which he wouldn't specify) was too high. Dodge itself apparently doesn't build NASCAR engines or have any other engine building source. MikeMulhern.net

NASCAR still a few weeks away from releasing EFI dataSprint Cup Series director John Darby said on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway that officials remain a few weeks from releasing EFI data and determining exactly what data will be released. But Darby was skeptical that the information, regardless of what is released, will help one driver improve on restarts. "It's not about what a guy is doing with his throttle on a restart," Darby said. "It's more about how the fuel maps and the original run tables that were set up for the race. The purpose of it is to help educate the entire garage on what's good for fuel strategies and what's not. It's not about pinpointing every time someone stepped on the brake. Or when somebody had their foot to the floor. They can get that off the TV telemetry now." Darby said the data collection should be completed in a few weeks, giving teams a sample of a restrictor plate race, two short tracks and a couple of mile-and-a-half tracks. "Once we get the tables like we want them, we'd be able to send every race,'' Darby said. "Typically, we download everything sitting on pit road after the race."

Darby acknowledged there have been minor issues with EFI through the first three races, but nothing to set off alarms. He said Brad Keselowski's issue at Las Vegas was a failed fuel pump. "We've got out of the habit of blanketing fuel injection, because it's almost as bad as saying did he have a problem with his race car," Darby said. "He had a fuel pump fail. Well, we had fuel pumps today and fuel pumps with carburetors. I'm a little defensive probably because everything wants to fall in the lap of fuel injection, where 99 percent of the problems that we've had up to this point in the year have nothing to do with fuel injection." ESPN

Tom Kristensen led an Audi one-two-three by just over 1 second at the two-hour mark of the Sebring 12 Hours, the opening round of the new FIA World Endurance Championship.

Allan McNish, who is sharing the #2 Audi R18 TDI with Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello, led the early going before pitting during the first safety-car period. The other two Audis waited and pitted on schedule under green-flag conditions late during the first hour, which gave the #2 a clear advantage at the top of the leaderboard, but that was later erased when it had to pit under green.

Polesitter Andre Lotterer filled second position in the #1 R18 with Romain Dumas 30-seconds behind in third.

Ferrari led the GTE class with the two Chevrolet Corvettes in third and fourth positions.

Concern over EFi at BristolA bullring with banking that evokes a need for high-rise elevators, Bristol Motor Speedway isn't a track that keeps engine builders awake at night worried about horsepower and durabil The tight confines of the first short track of the Sprint Cup season could cause plenty of concern in Sunday's Food City 500. With each fender banged and each lap turned on the bone-chattering concrete, the impacts and vibrations could take their toll on the new electronic fuel-injection (EFI) system.

"We're worried about the life of the sensors," said Doug Yates, co-owner of Roush Yates Engines, which builds the Ford powerplants for Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports. "We know how bumpy and demanding that place is. We feel like we're as prepared as we can, and it's another track we haven't been to with EFI. It'll be another box to check."

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